Scholarly Activities & QI Modules

Academic half day is the foundation of the Geriatric Medicine academic program and is designed to cover the core curriculum set by the Royal College.  It is organized to provide structured educational activities which include Geriatric Grand Rounds, a journal club, clinical skills teaching and presentations, as well as specialized exam prep sessions.  The content is presented by residents in the Royal College specialties and sub-specialties.  Staff and invited guests in their expertise area will also be speakers in the senior core sessions.

The AHD curriculum is a two year program held every Tuesday afternoon from 1:15 - 4:15.  

Under staff supervision, the Geriatric Medicine residents, together with the Care of the Elderly program, meet on Tuesday afternoons to take turns presenting topics selected from a list of Royal College core curriculum pertinent to our sub-specialty.  These sessions are mandatory for all Geriatric Medicine residents.  

The Geriatric Medicine AHD covers the following:

Week 1: allows for 2 hours of GM/COE faculty or guest lectures. This could be a 2-hour session on a larger topic, but more likely will be 2 separate 1-hour lectures, hopefully with a similar underlying theme. We will be sending out an email to elicit speakers from within our two groups to sign up for spots prior to inviting guest speakers. Local experts will also be arranged to cover important areas such as competency, frailty, gait and balance assessment, to name a few.  Some sessions will cover the CanMEDS competencies.  

Week 2: typically reserved for Journal Club. Our residents will typically present 1-2 times per year, which will allow for 2 faculty to present in one session in the future. Residents will then be taking part in physical exam sessions with a Physiatrist after Journal club.  

Week 3: consists of GM/COE residents presenting hour long sessions on a pre-approved list of topics as part of the Royal College objective list. There will be opportunities for elective residents who are interested in pursuing Geriatric Medicine or additional training in COE to present at these sessions as well.  

Week 4: reserved for the Senior Core/JAPES sessions (8 throughout the year) which will be exclusively for GM/COE residents and faculty with shorter sessions focusing on theories of aging/normal changes of aging, reviewing landmark papers in Geriatrics, ethical scenarios, discussion of clinical cases as well as exam question review.  

As part of our AHD, we also offer a Boot Camp in Block 1 as well as various exam prep and resident wellness sessions throughout the year.

At the beginning of their Geriatric Medicine residency, the sub-specialty residents will review topics of Geriatric Giants including dementia, delirium, falls, and adverse events and adverse drug reactions, either in a small group setting or one-on-one teaching. Under supervision, the sub-specialty resident will be responsible for teaching some of these sessions to medical students during their clinical clerkship rotation in Geriatrics.

This involves presentation of relevant geriatric topics with telehealth links to other sites in the city and other health centres in the province. Choice of speakers, topics, and objectives are overseen by a professional development committee of the division. Evaluation and feedback on the presentations are collected. The sub-specialty resident in Geriatrics is expected to present annually at these rounds.

GGR SITE

The divisions of Geriatric Medicine & Care of the Elderly have also created teaching presentations on dementia, delirium, falls, urinary incontinence, continuing care, urinary incontinence, driving, elder abuse & medicolegal issues & the sub-specialty resident is expected to review these as their self-directed learning initiative. The information will be reinforced with visits to the elder abuse team, a driving assessment center & with a lecture on competency by our local leader in this area.

Learning Resources Site

This is primarily a course that involves reading, thinking, discussion, and writing.  It is conducted in the fashion of a graduate course in philosophy, meeting for around 2+  hours each day. It starts with some readings in ethical theory and approaches to decision-making. Then  proceeds to tackle issues like consent, communications, professionalism, surrogate decision making, advance directives, DNR orders, nutrition and hydration, multi-cultural and religious issues, end of life care, beginning of life care, organizational ethics, and a few other relevant issues. Each student will write and share some written reflections, lead some discussions about particular articles, and give a 20 minute presentation at the end of the course, on an ethics topic of his or her choice. A written version of the presentation should also be submitted by the Sunday of the second week. In addition to classroom time, at least another few hours each day for reading and research are needed.

From the course instructor:

We really try to have everyone present for every session, as discussion is our major mode of learning.  Please start to think about ethical challenges you've faced - a favorite issue or a tough case that you would like to analyze. We will try to push you to put together a solid presentation that could potentially be submitted for publication.

You will be enrolled in this course when available.  Below is a sample content of a previous course.

Schedule:

Oct 22  1400-1600  Intro to Clinical Ethics

Oct 23                      No meeting, reading and research 

Oct 24  1000-1300  Methods/Theories/Consent

Oct 25  0930-1130  Communications/End of Life

Oct 26  1000-1230  End of Life Issues [Ivan Ilych] at UAH

Oct 29  1030-1230  Professionalism and Integrity

Oct 30  1000-1300  Adverse Events / Errors / Other Issues

Nov 1   1030-1330   Ethics and Culture, Organ Donation

Nov 2   1030-1300   Final Presentations

HEALTH ETHICS SEMINARS 

John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre

The seminars focus on emerging issues in healthcare. The speakers are usually affiliated with various healthcare disciplines, programs, and institutions and have special expertise, practice and/or academic knowledge about specific ethical issues. There are typically three or four seminars in the Fall semester and three or four seminars in the Winter semester.

All seminars take place from 12:00 - 13:00 MDT/MST. All seminars takes place via Zoom. Check link below to register or add a site to the session.

Register for a session:

https://www.ualberta.ca/john-dossetor-health-ethics-centre/events/health-ethics-seminars/index.html

QI modules/certificate courses are offered by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Open School in Cambridge, MA.   Registration required.  Courses are free for students, medical residents, university faculty, and users from the Least Developed Countries.

https://my.ihi.org/topclass/lmsportal.aspx

Record your response in less than a page by the end of the 2nd year of your residency.